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Anthony Graziano
Anthony "T.G" Graziano (November 12, 1940 - May 25, 2019) is a New York City mobster and former consigliere in the Bonanno crime family. Bonanno crime family Captain In 1990, Graziano pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion. He had failed to pay $100,000 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and had hidden some personal assets under the names of relatives. Graziano was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $250,000. In 1994, Graziano ordered his crew to find and kill John Pappa and Calvin Hennigar, both mobsters with the Colombo crime family. On one occasion, the two men had fired shots inside a topless bar in Staten Island owned by Graziano, wounding one patron. An enraged Graziano had sent his Brooklyn crew hunting for them. However, Graziano later met with Colombo family representatives and agreed on a settlement to the problem. Graziano called off the murder order, but in 2002 he would be indicted on two counts of murder conspiracy due to this episode. Consigliere When Anthony Spero was indicted in 1999, Graziano took up the position of acting consigliere. Two years later he was promoted in an official capacity when Spero was convicted of the three murders and other racketeering charges and subsequently sentenced to life in prison. On March 19, 2002, Graziano was indicted in New York on charges of bookmaking, murder of a rival gangster, and conspiracy to commit murder. On March 20, 2002, he was indicted again in Florida on charges ranging from illegal gambling to investment fraud in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His investment scams, carefully disguised by the once successful Bulls and Bears Fund, defrauded customers out of $11.7 million. On December 23, 2002, Graziano pleaded guilty to the New York tax evasion and racketeering charges, including conspiracy to murder Pappa and Heniger in 1994. On July 18, 2003, Graziano was sentenced to 11 years in prison on the Florida charges. On November 13, 2003, Graziano was sentenced to nine years in prison on the New York charges. At the New York sentencing, Graziano's lawyer asked for leniency, saying that his client had diabetes and had survived two episodes of bladder cancer. Later Life and Death In August 2011, Graziano was released from prison. Just a few months later, in January 2012, Graziano was indicted on federal racketeering and extortion charges. These charges were based on recorded conversations with government informant and former son-in-law Hector Pagan, Jr. In February 2012, Graziano was incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn while awaiting trial. Graziano later took a plea in April 2012 and was sentenced to 19 months in prison. He was released in 2013. On May 25, 2019 Anthony Graziano passed away from unknown causes, possibly cancer, which he had suffered from for many years. Popular Culture Graziano's daughter, Renee Graziano, is a cast member on the VH1 cable reality television program Mob Wives. The show was created and is produced by another daughter of Graziano, Renee's sister, Jennifer Graziano. As a result, he is no longer speaking to either of them. Category:Bonnano Crime Family Category:Bonanno Capos Category:Mob Wives